


Intuition

by mairuhart



Series: Intuition [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, F/M, Original Universe, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:01:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28036602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mairuhart/pseuds/mairuhart
Summary: Trapped as Akatsuki's prisoner to aid Itachi with his health problems, Sakura is dragged into an endless web of betrayal, lies, untold truths and an unexpected light at her so-dark future.
Relationships: Deidara/Haruno Sakura
Series: Intuition [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2053665
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. When The Nightmare Starts

**Author's Note:**

> This one starts some weeks after Gaara's rescue and goes its own way afterwards.
> 
> I wrote this story almost six years ago, and it's finished in my native language (portuguese) since 2017. So I think it's time to translate my baby and let it reach new horizons. I am deeply sorry for any grammar or spelling errors, since english is not my first language. I will get there, I promise!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Jumping tree by tree, Sakura paid all the attention she could to the sayings of Kakashi.

"Listen: as said by the ANBUs who could find Orochimaru, we are just a few miles afar the hideout where Sasuke is. Sai," he called. "I want you to stay near me if we have to fight. We will attack first in case of Orochimaru or his men showing up."

That was, without a doubt, the most important mission Sakura had in all her life. Just after the incident in Suna and the hospitalization of Kakashi, Naruto and her were teamed up with that strange boy, Sai, and were under the orders of Yamato, a master of Wood Style who could haunt anyone just with a simple gaze. However, since they would probably face Orochimaru in the new mission, Tsunade decided to await Kakashi's recovery.

The main objective of the new Team Seven was to find Sasuke's whereabouts, infiltrate in his hideout and try their luck. However, because of the dangers of the mission and Naruto's seal being unstable ―fact unknown to Sakura―, Jiraiya advised for them to wait for Kakashi.

"Sakura," her sensei called. "I need you to stay with Yamato and Naruto. If Naruto loses control of his emotions, you are the one who can stop him of doing something stupid."

"Hey! Who said I will 'lose control'? I don't need anyone near me. But if you want, I can protect you, Sakura-chan," Naruto tried to flirt while protesting, but was ignored. Meanwhile, Sakura answered Kakashi with a roger.

Her mind was lost and she couldn't hear anymore what Kakashi was saying. How would she react if they saw Sasuke? How would he be like, after two years? How would he react? The boy she loved so much in the past was really close to her right now and her team could finally take him away from that snake monster who destroyed their lives.

She frowned and increased the quantity of chakra in her feet, jumping faster. Naruto wasn't left behind, with the two of them getting forward. Yamato shouted some sort of complaint and said for them to stay behind, but was ignored. The blonde one seemed so anxious than Sakura in her eyes, and her heart seemed to squish a little.

Naruto, for sure, was the closest person to Sasuke and the most important one in the life of the Uchiha. By Naruto's part, the feeling was mutual. The two of them, despite being rivals, were also best friends and had a bond so strong that it couldn't be broken even by death. So what if they failed the mission? Naruto had already lost one opportunity of saving Sasuke. Could he bear defeat for a second time?

And then hell broke of. It was too fast to be noticed immediately. The kunoichi's green eyes were surprised by Kakashi's katon, Naruto swearing and Sai flying in an ink bird. Caught by surprise, Sakura stepped wrong and started to fall, just to be held by Yamato before it was too late. The captain jumped away to help Naruto and Kakashi.

By what she could see in a fraction of seconds, the ambush was made by two individuals of Akatsuki with the famous black cloak with blood-red clouds. She recomposed herself and decided to attack the man who resembled a shark and was preparing to attack Yamato. She channelized chakra in her fist and tried to punch him in one of the kidneys, but the criminal diverted the attack with remarkable velocity and hit her in the shoulder. She heard the sound of something being dislocated.

The sudden pain wasn't enough to stop her, however. With a kunai in hands and an explosive paper attached to it, she threw it, slowing the man (… _maybe a man?_ ) just in time for Sai to hit him with an ink lion. The man dissipated in water, revealing to be a clone. Sakura scanned her surroundings searching for the real one and felt something moving inside the tree she stood; of course he planned a surprise attack. She jumped from the branch where she was and, with her leg, broke the tree in half, revealing the enemy. She tried to attack him from above, but he was faster and held her leg.

Not allowing herself to lose one more punch, she managed to turn her back and hips enough to hit him with her good arm, making the nukenin release her and flee for the open field. She smiled with auto-satisfaction and jumped to another tree, watching Sai become the new opponent for the Akatsuki. She couldn't give herself the privilege of staying there, so she landed on the field. She passed by Sai and released chakra from her fist to the ground, breaking it in several parts and creating a sort of earthquake. Sadly it wasn't enough for Kisame to lose his balance, who wielded his strange sword full of bands. He ran to the new member of Team Seven and tried to get him repeatedly, but Sai avoided every blow with success.

Using his chakra in his feet, Sai jumped away, now staying in a safe range from the blue man. He seemed to growl under his smile full of sharp, abnormal teeth; then he ran for them in a more feral way. An explosion was heard several feet away, and Sakura feared for his teammates there.

_I can't be worried about others when the risk right here is big_ , she thought. She saw the Akatsuki's sword hit Sai and her heart stopped beating for half a second; but then she watched the artist's form fade away in ink and sighed in relief.

The shark man looked for Sai all around him, but couldn't find his opponent. Sakura stood there, confused. _What the hell?! Why wasn't he trying to attack her?_

She didn't had time to find an answer because Sai emerged from the ground in a blink of an eye and surprised the Akatsuki, holding him in place with ink snakes. Seeing in this the perfect gap, she went for him faster than ever and threw a blow in his stomach, throwing him away one more time before he got rid of the snakes. Sai gave her one of his fake smiles.

"Great teamwork," he said.

"Yeah..." she answered. "But that's strange. I mean, he is an Akatsuki, Hoshigaki Kisame, the bingo book says. He is among the most feared shinobis in the world. We shouldn't have a chance with him. But then… why are we taking the advantage? He isn't even fighting for real. He is toying with us."

The nukenin left them there, running for the forest where Kakashi, Naruto and Yamato fought with someone.

"I have no idea what he is up to, but the opportunity to beat an Akatsuki won't show up everyday!" Sai answered and went after Kisame again, following him to the trees.

Without many options, Sakura also followed them. She ignored again the pain in her shoulder, gradually increasing along with the muscular tension, and tried to focus only in trying to pass these guys and continuing the mission. They were so close from Sasuke, they couldn't fail again!

Climbing one of the trees, she saw Naruto covered by a strange orange, bubbly aura with an animal shape. He used a fighting style that could be described as _savage_. His eyes were red and the strange marks in his cheeks were thicker. She worried a lot about that, but couldn't leave Sai alone.

She searched again for the enemy and, when she found him, moved to be near him, hiding and waiting for a gap. He seemed to change the battle's situation and was overpowering Sai, so she knew she needed to do something. She prepared chakra in her feet one more time and jumped.

Before she could get near Kisame, something grabbed her in the air and pressed hard to avoid her escape. She could only identify the red Sharingan eyes.

" _Sasuke?_ "

That was everything she managed to say before feeling her body fall to the ground and everything become black.

* * *

When she woke up, Sakura felt a terrible headache. She opened her eyes and identified a strange black ceiling. Still laying down in something like a cot, she scanned the space around her and became sure that she never saw that space in Konoha. It was a prison cell.

The walls didn't possess any painting, the ground was made from rocks and the only light there was from a fire torch outside the cell, in a corridor with many others. There wasn't absolutely nothing there beside the thing she was laying on and the first thing she thought straight was _running_.

She tried to rationalize and find a way out; but how? She didn't know where she was, what happened to her, where her teammates were and how she ended up there.

Sakura dug her mind and the last thing she could remember was that she was grabbed by someone before hitting her body and collapsing. She was fight against Akatsuki with the rest of her team. But what happened after these things?

She tried to stand up from the cot using her right arm, but then felt a terrible pain and remembered her dislocated arm.

_Well, I can't stay like this if I want to escape,_ she thought.

She thought of using the Mystical Palm technique to put everything into place, but the chakra didn't flow. It was obvious to her that the cell drained chakra. Looking with more attention, she could finally feel the unnatural air of the cell, common in the types that sucked the chakra away.

"I will have to do this in the worst way," grunted with anger.

She bent her knees, hugged her right leg and leaned back, putting pressure and pushing the knee forward to create tension. After doing this repeatedly for several minutes, the pain seemed to lessen. The shoulder wasn't exactly where it should be, but it was all she could do right now. Noticing that her bag and her tantou weren't with her anymore to get some supplies to immobilize her shoulder, she left her arm in the right position.

Sakura analyzed again the place without windows and with steel bars. If she could get out somehow… a gap in the walls, a barrier not strong enough to her grip… _anything_. She couldn't find what she wanted and, without chakra to destroy walls, everything she could do was sit and wait.

* * *

She didn't know how much time has passed, but she was hungry and thirst. She also needed to go to the bathroom and was cold; however the worst of all wasn't any of these things. She was _alone_. Without Naruto, Tsunade, Kakashi, Ino or any other person who made her feel safe. Sakura didn't know where she was, who she was dealing with, what happened after her blackout, what would happen to her and if she would see again her loved people one more time.

So she allowed herself to cry. A silent cry, but desperate and without any hope. She cried like she didn't cried for long. She promised herself, during her training with her shishou, that she wouldn't cry anymore. She would be strong, focused and wouldn't depend on her friends; however, there she was, crying again.

The petite kunoichi heard footsteps in the corridor, so she held back the tears as fastest as she could, sniffed trying to get rid of the stuffy nose, cleaned her face and watched the bars with an uneasy heartbeat, waiting.

The black and red coat came first, but then the face of her raptor was revealed. Sakura couldn't prevent her chin from falling, stunned. For the first time, she was in front of one of the most wanted nukenins in the world. The cold gaze in the crimson eyes sent a chill to Sakura's spine, and the face so alike to Sasuke's made her legs tremble.

Itachi Uchiha.

These red eyes were, for sure, the thing Sakura would fear the most from that moment. Her body stiffened and she waited for his words. Even after some minutes in silence, she didn't dare to say something nor look elsewhere.

So she was captured by Akatsuki. Several reasons for such an act passed trough her mind: a bait for Konoha, interrogation, a 'lesson as an example', being Sasori's killer… Maybe all these options together.

However, it didn't make sense if she was the only one captured. Yes, she was almost sure that one of her teammates were there too! Maybe Naruto? She knew him, and he would act led by anger, also being captured.

Assuming Itachi didn't expect to talk first, she finally took the courage to ask, with hostility. "Where is Naruto? What did you do to him?"

"The fox is not here, kunoichi," Itachi answered with the same tone. "He should be inside Leaf's walls with the rest of your team. And I advice you to make your voice more… _mild_."

A wave of relief passed through Sakura's body. She released the air she was holding, but didn't leave her fear behind. Gazing Itachi again, she waited for him to say something. Nothing was done by his part.

Making use of his silence, she started to think. Naruto certainly also would be easily captured with her if he acted on impulse and even Kakashi wouldn't be able to stop him. The loss of another member of Team Seven would not be allowed by the boy; but if Naruto, Yamato, Kakashi and Sai weren't there, Akatsuki really had a reason to have abducted only her and let the others leave. Even Kakashi, the most powerful of the squad, wouldn't be a match to Itachi's power, who was known around the world for his achievements before and after the treason without any plausible reason.

She cogitated again the reasons of her abduction, but her thoughts were stopped by the arrival of a second person in front of her cell.

He was a tall man, pale and with an orange hair that remembered Naruto's. He used an hitai-ate from Ame with the symbolic horizontal mark and had several piercings all over his face. The man also wore the Akatsuki cloak; however, what surprised the most in his appearance were the eyes. Indigo orbs with strange circles in it shined bright in the darkness of the corridor. Sakura had seen lots of things in her short lifetime, but she knew that he was probably one of the most dangerous men alive. He emanated power even without moving a muscle.

As Itachi did, he gazed her with cold eyes, but Sakura didn't dare to sustain eye contact with him as she did with the Konoha's nukenin.

"Leader," Itachi called him, showing that he was the one in charge of Akatsuki. "She is the apprentice and protege of Princess Tsunade, the one I said that would be useful to us."

"I see," the indigo-eyed man said. "How long has she been there?"

"Around half a day," Itachi answered while Sakura's eyes got larger. She has been there for twelve hours! "If you allow me, I would like to explain to her why she is here."

The said leader nodded and left. So she really would be interrogated. Since this very moment she made her choice: even if she was tortured for her entire life, even if she was killed, she would never spill a word.

Removing the papel seal attached to the cell's lock the entrance opened, but Sakura didn't move. Itachi signed for her to move, so she finally did so. Passing by several cells, she noticed that most of them were occupied by people in their deathbed. Teenagers, elders, women and several types of shinobi were prisoners. A shiver passed down her spine; how far would Akatsuki go to get whatever they desired?

Leaving that horrid place, they climbed a stair and entered a door right next to it. Sakura thought she would be led to an interrogation room, full of torture devices and intel data, but she was in a very simple room, with a table and chairs at the center and a shelf with a few scrolls.

"You can sit wherever you want; however, I assume you will stay in your own limits," the command was rather a warning, and Sakura quietly obliged, warily sitting across him. He started talking.

"Obviously you know who we are. You also know all our members are rank S ninja with unique skills. Each loss is very significant and, with Sasori's murder by your hands and the damage caused to another member, we are worried with the next potential losses."

"And I am here to tend to you criminals," Sakura dared to interrupt when Itachi paused.

"Very close. You see, I am one of the oldest and… _useful_ members here," he explained. "And I am passing through some health issues that are aggravating very quickly. Leader don't want me to lose activity, and wants to have my issue discovered and treated a soon as possible. Your medical abilities are very impressive, you are so young and already part of the elite. Beyond your healing skills, you were able to defeat one of our strongest in Akatsuki, and just the Mystical Palm wouldn't be enough to overcome Sasori's poison, am I correct?"

Sakura stayed silent. She knew she deserved the praise for beating Sasori, but she wouldn't last five minutes if Chiyo wasn't there. She didn't do the false modesty thing, but the kunoichi also knew very well that she, alone and with her current skills, would never be enough to beat an Akatsuki. However, receiving the recognition of someone like Itachi Uchiha, the living legend, would be very satisfying if not his fame.

"Well, your medical abilities did not go unnoticed for us and we need a _favor_ from you. I would like you to help me find my disease."

Sakura knew very well her options: accept or get killed. The slight chance of survival was held by the first one, so she took a deep breath, trying to control her trembling fingers, and spoke.

"Will I be held prisoner like a while ago?"

"For sure not. We can't let you live in a cell without any survival conditions, of course. We are in what we call the headquarters, it's the closest thing we have to a home. We will provide you with a regular room and you will be able to roam freely in the places Leader allows you to." The last part was filled with warning and menace, implying things wouldn't be nice for her if she didn't cooperate.

"You shall never disrespect Leader if you do not wish for disastrous outcomes. You also shall not cause problems for any of us; the outcome will be less favorable to you."

Sakura listened to all the instructions carefully and was not surprised by any of them; on the opposite, she was rather impressed by the conditions they were proposing. No organization, not even Konoha, would be so diligent with a prisoner. Something just didn't seemed to click, there had to be more and Itachi purposely let it off.

"Well, I guess I have no choice. A lost game shall we play, then," Itachi sarcastically smirked at her choice of words. "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Me or someone else will show you to certain places of your new routine, but before that we need to speak to Leader so we can finish our deal."

If Sakura had been more braver, she would have laughed at his face. 'Deal'?! She was being forced to condone with Akatsuki and still had to hear everything as if she was there on her own free will?!

Itachi asked her to follow him again and so she did. They left the room to roam through a cold corridor made of stone walls. The kunoichi was used to small clothing to deal with the hot weather from Fire Country in the summer, but Akatsuki's hideout for sure wasn't sunny and warm. Where could she be?

"Sakura-san," he called. "Of course you recognize Akatsuki is the most hated group in all the Shinobi Nations, so we always have to make sure out allies and subordinates are under control. Of course, we have our means, and Leader is about to show you to them. I ask you to keep calm and to not resist. Things will be easier for us and for you, I assure."

Oh, there it was. What was missing. With genuine fear, the medic agreed with an almost inaudible sound. She forced her body to move and kept following Itachi. They passed through several closed wooden doors until Uchiha stopped in front of one that held the symbol for Zero carved carefully in the wood. The nukenin gave it a few knocks and waited for the permission to enter.

Apparently, it was a regular office. Sakura looked through the room, all the scrolls, papers and archives perfectly organized. A desk full of piles of paper was in front of her and in there sat the head of the headquarters.

What caught her attention, however, was a woman. She stood next to the leader and also wore the Akatsuki cape. She was very pretty and seemed to be in her late twenties, but her eyes held the weight of lots of years. The blue hair, decorated with a flower origami, stood the most, and made a perfect combination with the clear grey eyes. The woman watched Sakura expressionless and made her feel uncomfortable with the way she was getting studied. Finally, her eyes went back to the leader when he spoke.

"So I see Sakura Haruno accepted our offer," he started, now looking to Itachi. "Have you already explained how things will work for her?"

"Yes, sir. She agreed without problems and will collaborate perfectly," Itachi answered.

"Great. I hope we have a great relationship without major problems, since you will be living with us for now on, Sakura Haruno." He stood up and the girl didn't dare to move. Step by step he took to reach her, her heart beat faster and harder. "To assure your complete loyalty to the organization, I will do a procedure that will be, in certain ways, painful. I ask for your patience in the entire process."

_So we always have to make sure out allies and subordinates are under control._

Before she could speak or even think, the Akatsuki was at her side making several hand seals with an almost unbelievable speed. She felt slender hands grab her arms to prevent her scape, but the green eyes only focused at Itachi in front of her. In a heartbeat, the man's hand entered in contact with the side of her neck.

The pain she felt at the contact wasn't the worst she had felt, compared by being impaled by Sasori's blade. However, that type of pain was completely new. It burned inside out and the acid heat seemed to spread through all her veins, making her lose balance and fall to the ground. She screamed like she never did before, but no one seemed bothered by the gruesome sound. There was no sound in the room and she wasn't looking directly at the light, but oh, she wanted so bad to rip out her own eardrums and eye globes. The temptation to make herself undone into pieces to end that was overwhelming and lasted for a dozen of seconds. She swore she would die there, in the cold floor. She wasn't strong enough to endure that pain for so long without healing herself, without resisting…

When it ended, Sakura remained in the floor, muted by the pain and having slight spasms. The woman freed her from her hold carefully so she could use her arms to lean and not fall completely. The medic-nin used her good arm as support and, between pants, looked to the orange-haired man with tired eyes. He showed her no emotion.

"Konan," he called the woman. "Could you get the girl to one of the free rooms? I have matters to discuss with Itachi."

The woman named Konan nodded and helped Sakura to stand, having patience with the fragile body. Together, they left the room that would haunt Sakura as her brand new nightmare material.

What the hell just happened to her? Why no one explained nothing to her? What would be of her from now on? Her head was filled with questions with answers she probably would never get.

She got startled with a sudden pause from Konan. They were in front of another door, this one with no kanji in the wood.

"This will be your room," she said to Sakura as she turned to face her. Her voice, like her appearance, was very beautiful. It had a strong tone that showed she was a very superior woman. "There is hot water in the bathroom and sheets in the shelves. I ask for you to not leave this room until we come here again. We will know if you try. You should be tired, so I will show up after a few hours to explain you everything around here."

"Could I make a question before?" She asked and received Konan's silence as answer, so she took it like a 'yes'. Education seemed to be effective around there, so she would try her best to be in a suitable situation. "What did just happen to me right there?"

"It is the Akatsuki seal. When a person has it, they are linked to Akatsuki. If the seal's user try to betray the group in any way, very bad things happen. So, if you excuse me, I have my appointments and can't stay here. Have a good rest."

With that, Konan opened the room's door and left Sakura alone in the corridor, going back to where they came from. With no other choice and dying for the hot water the taller woman mentioned, she entered the room, locking the door. The wooden floor needed some cleaning and the walls had some spider webs. For sure she would find a way to solve that, if she was forced to be there.

The furniture was dusty as well and it consisted of a small bed, a large shelf, a bedside table with a lamp and a working table with a single chair. She could see a bit of light coming through a window with red curtains, so she walked over there. When separating the two pieces of fabric, she surprised herself with large concrete buildings. The rain fell hard and the place and not a single bit of the sky could be seen. Only the grey, the city lights and the ever-lasting rain. Of course, that was Amegakure, one of the most secretive hidden villages. She had already read books about the war they fought against Konoha and had seen some figures from the past, but her knowledge was limited to these small bits.

Now she remembered the Akatsuki leader using Ame's headband with the horizontal line representing defection, so how did Akatsuki's headquarters were inside a hidden village? The place seemed perfect for a hideout: its borders were very guarded, there had almost no information about the Rain Country in the last generations and it was in a strategic location. The only plausible explanation was that Akatsuki had some kind of Alliance with Rain.

A sudden twinge of pain hit Sakura's head, so she stopped thinking so much and focused in taking a bath. She identified the door leading to the bathroom and used the small shower to clean the dust from the bath before filling it with water. While she waited for it to be filled, she took a look in the mirror, identifying the said seal in her neck. It had a simple shape of three circles, one inside another, resembling a lot Leader's eyes. Touching it as if it would burn her hand if she did so, she took a deep breath trying not to cry.

Her arms had Konan's hands marked in them and when she removed her shirt she could truly see her shoulder's damage. She could already feel her chakra flowing back to her whole body, so she would fix that when more relaxed. She didn't take long watching her face and quickly undressed. When she removed her hitaiate, ther heart ached.

Naruto, without a doubt, was going crazy, she could know even far away from him. He was certainly meticulously planning his 'Sakura retrieval plan' that she already knew too well: running directionless until finding someone with Akatsuki's cape and screaming 'where the hell Sakura-chan is?'

She allowed herself to let out a small laugh and, right after relieving herself, she used the shower to wash her body before entering the hot tub. And what about Tsunade? What could her mentor possibly do in a situation like that? It wasn't a secret the Hokage loved Sakura as her own daughter and she was probably losing her head at the moment. Sakura curled herself up while the hot sensation passed through her limbs. How could she face her Shishou if she got out of there? Even after two years of rough training, she was captured and was submissive to whatever they wanted to do with her. She felt ashamed to not be able to even free herself from Itachi's grip in the battle.

And her parents? Oh, her parents. Ino? Shizune? Her other friends?

She entered the tub while thinking of every single important person in her life. While her muscles relaxed, she could feel more relaxed to heal her shoulder. Her hand was covered in chakra and the bone returned to its place very easily. The pain slowly faded until only a tingly sensation remained.

Sakura stopped to thing again of the seal: if she could freely think bad things of Akatsuki, of returning to Konoha and deceiving her captors, the seal wasn't effective as Konan wanted her to believe. She suspected since the start: seals aren't perfect, it was almost impossible to make a stable seal. Only the Uzumaki clan could make good seals at the start, and every sealing jutsu took the extinct clan's one as their base. However, not even the Uzumaki's technique, performed by a clan's member, was perfect.

So all she had to do was discover how far she could go with this one.

All she could find to wear after her bath was a bathrobe in the shelf, so she took it. Back to the room, she noticed a food tray in the bedside table: rice, soup and meat; Konan must had left it for her. Filled with the recently-found hunger, she attacked the food and found it to be incredibly delicious. The seasoning was strange to her mouth, but somehow it remembered her of home.

Exhausted, Sakura barely finished eating her food before falling in a deep sleep. The girl dreamed of Konoha, Sasuke and Naruto, but it wasn't a good dream. Black coats with red clouds destroyed any possibility of good dreams that night.


	2. When You Can't Think Too Much

The sun burned in Konoha, but the air was heavy like a night of an incoming thunderstorm.

Tsunade was devastated. Her pupil had been captured by their biggest enemy and the Hokage blamed herself for it. She had failed as Konoha's leader, as a mentor and even as a motherly figure. How did she let that happen?

She was desperately trying to find ways for finding Sakura. She made impossible plans, created tactics full of flaws and, of course, drank a lot during the process. However, nothing seemed to work towards her way.

Team Seven had returned to the village just after the incident. Naruto —who had passed out after a blow from Hoshigaki Kisame just after Itachi caught Sakura— was still in the hospital and didn't have a clue about his friend's abduction. When he asked about her to Kakashi, he was said the medic-nin was fine, but busy with Tsunade. The blond found it strange, since Sakura always visited him when he was in the hospital, but he believed his sensei nonetheless.

The single-Sharingan Jounin had been impacted as well. The loss of another student was almost overwhelming and he again blamed himself for things he could not control, but he didn't let himself be carried by the sadness. In reality, he was the one who didn't let Tsunade leave the village by her own to go beat the shit out of anyone who dared to look at her in the eyes, until she finally found Sakura.

He needed to help the Fifth any way he could. In a meeting with the council, they opted to keep Sakura's abduction as a secret to avoid more problems. The only ones who got informed were Sakura's parents, who fell in despair by their daughter's loss. Sai and Yamato swore to keep silence —even if Tsunade knew that Danzo knew— and, for the meantime, the excuse would be that Sakura would be sent immediately in a mission in a distant country. But if Sakura didn't return soon, the mask would fall along with the townsfolk's trust in Konoha.

It was obvious to them what Akatsuki wished: to lure Naruto right into their nest with an easy prey that mattered enough to him. Encounters with Akatsuki almost never happened to be accidents; everything was planned by them, and they also got everything they wanted. Until the Suna ambush, it is. At the Wind Country they saw that to capture the Kyuubi, they would need more than that Deidara's little bombs to capture him. But what bugged the Hokage's mind was the fact that they had gotten both Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame to get Sakura: they could easily capture Naruto there, even with Kakashi and Yamato protecting him. Why did they choose the hard and long method of luring Naruto? What kind of use Sakura, her relationship to Naruto and her skills had to Akatsuki? Why did she matter to them that much?

* * *

The Fifth's disciple didn't know what time it was when she was awoken by a knocking on her door, but the pain in her back told her she slept for a long time. She dressed yesterday's clothes and hurriedly opened the door, facing the inexpressive face of Konan. The older one quickly spoke.

"Good afternoon. Yesterday I said we were going to show you the place, but after eleven yours of sleep you must be hungry, yes?" She asked.

"Yes, I am," Sakura answered, a little disturbed with how Akatsuki really planned on treating her with care, as if she wasn't to be disposed as soon as her abilities served them no more. So she voiced her thoughts. "Why does it care to you so much? You put me to sleep in a nice room, you bring me good food and you ask me things as if I was a welcomed guest in your house."

Konan showed a shadow of a smirk, slightly amused at the petite kunoichi's dareness.

"Let's say you are a midterm. You are very useful to Akatsuki, so it is essential that your health is in acceptable conditions. Of course, the state of your mind is also important, so it will be no use to us to let you grow insane in a cell deprived of basic human needs," she explained, and Sakura almost huffed with sarcasm. _How thoughtful of you_ , she scoffed in her mind. "Now, if you allow us, I will explain your way to the kitchen. Wait for me there."

Sakura listened Konan's directions with no real interest, thinking about how she didn't felt anything abnormal in her body when asking a question with evident lack of trust and respect for Akatsuki. She supposed, then, that the seal would only activate if she spoke about crucial information. She thought of it as a good thing: she never knew how to keep her mouth shut when challenged, and the habit only grew worse under Tsunade's guidance. She could deal with an angry Akatsuki that could do nothing to her while she treated Itachi if she dared to be rude do them, as she was protected by her "privileged status", but for sure she couldn't deal with a seal that harassed her freedom every second of her day.

She arrived at the kitchen with no problem and was surprised again with the place's design, just like a regular kitchen. Even the table was too small to hold more than four people, but she supposed a bunch of S-ranked criminals wouldn't enjoy their time by sitting and having happy family mealtime.

Searching for something in the fridge, she opted for a glass of milk and an apple (which was sour, unlike Konoha's sweet apples). Enjoying her loneliness, she started to wonder how the other members would be like.

Besides Itachi and Kisame, the shark-man, she knew Orochimaru was part of the organization in the past and that the lunatic blond was dead somewhere with his arms very far away from his body. She also heard word of an immortal one in the middle of that and, of course, there was a Very Gladly Dead Sasori, who also had his great parcel of freakiness. Konan didn't seem so abnormal so far, but what could those mysterious eyes of hers keep hidden?

From the information she had acquired with Tsunade, their progress of capturing the Bijuu was very alarming in such a small time of offensive activity. They had already made the capture of the Five, Seven and One-Tail. Even with the loss of two shinobi, she was sure he was to be replaced very soon and then their plan would be resumed.

The girl wanted to do anything to slow the capturing process, however she knew it was idiotic of her to act against Akatsuki while in their own headquarters. She was in their territory, completely submissive and useless to her own village. She was mostly bidden by her new cute tattoo, but she also could be easily killed by any of them, like a crushed insect under someone's foot. So all she could do was collect intel and hope for the best.

The other door in the kitchen opened, and from it appeared the blue, colossal man she fought not long ago. His features changed as a smug grin appeared in his face, as if something very entertaining was happening. Sakura tried not to grimace, but she knew she failed.

"I see everything went well with Leader," he started a conversation while sitting in a chair. His voice tone wasn't even a bit hostile and it sounded a lot lighter than she expected. "Well, sorry for the shoulder, hope you understand. Capture needed to be easier."

"As you see, I could fix it. I am here because I can make this sort of things, am I not?" She tried to answer as neutral as possible, while showing a tiny bit of defiance to mask her fear of him.

To her surprise, the shark man's grin widened, very pleased with her answer.

"I see you don't hold back your words. Didn't expect that. I kinda like you, girlie," he laughed. "So since we will see each other a lot around here, I guess presentations are needed. My name is Hoshigaki Kisame."

"Mine is Sakura. Haruno Sakura."

"I know. Ah," He seemed to remember something. "About your fighting style, Sakura, I want to point some _flaws_ so you can work on them. You may be young, but it isn't an excuse to make such errors."

Sakura's face showed a big fat w _hat_. She expected lots of things from everyone around there, but _lectures_ about the way she fought wasn't one of them. But well, she didn't expect to be treated so nicely while a prisoner. Life with the most wanted criminals would be full of surprises, then (and while her mind thought such things, she tried not to scream).

"You stand still a lot in the battlefield, as if the time had stopped for you to think and watch. If my intention wasn't to capture you, you could have died in the middle of that field. I also noticed you frequently looked around from the corner of your eyes, trying to get fragments of Itachi's battle. You know, such things can cost your life.

"You are highly intelligent and could find my hiding spot, but had the error to prepare your shoot too early. Because of that, I grabbed your leg very easily. Anyway, your flexibility is impressive, even for a kunoichi.

"Your raw power is also remarkable. Now I understand how one of our hideouts was destroyed by you. When Deidara told me, I thought it was some sort of exaggeration from him, with his talk of 'a little girl smashing down the cave', but now I understand perfectly. If you had landed this fist of yours in somewhere vital I sure would be in big trouble. But I also have to point that you let your guard down after landing your punches. You need to improve your speed and reactions."

Even if it was all said by an enemy, the medic-nin heard with attention. How Tsunade _never_ had said any of that to her? Thinking back then, the flaws were all in there, just as Kisame said. She could also remember these very same problems in the battle against Sasori. Well, nothing like a good, old advice of an S-class criminal.

If it wasn't for Konan's arrival, Kisame would probably ramble about her battle style for a while. Sensing her presence, Kisame turned around and gave her a small nod.

"Morning, Konan," he greeted, being answered with another nod from the blue-haired woman.

"Have you eaten? Good. Let's go," she called Sakura and the women left.

* * *

After walking for a good couple minutes, Sakura had been introduced to the courtyard used for training (the same where Kisame had walked in from), to the library, to Leader's office and, finally, to the infirmary.

"We don't own equipment with the same technology available in Konohagure, but I am sure everything here will be very useful to you," Konan explained to the younger one. "This room is free to your use as you please, as is the library. Oh, and I almost forgot, but Itachi will be here in a few minutes for his first appointment."

Konan excused herself, then, and left Sakura with her own thoughts. Thoughts she didn't want to have, so she occupied herself with exploring the infirmary and taking note of what she had to work with around there.

In her few hours of stay in that hideout, Tsunade's apprentice had already noted that there was no reason to not treat the members of the organization without respect. Yes, they were all strange and knew how to put fear in anybody, plus she hated them to their core for what they had done so far, but they were surprisingly polite towards her. Of course they made sure to state every single hour of her position in there, but they also treated her as a decent human being, and that she would never expect. If all of them were like that, things would be, in the scenario she was in, almost _acceptable_.

Looking around the infirmary, she didn't found anything out of the blue for that kind of place. As Konan said, they possessed regular medical items, useful in most situations, but they had no advanced equipment.

She found in the lockers different kinds of medicine and herbs used for several treatments, but also found drugs she only had read of, never getting the opportunity to have them before. The thought of something to already busy herself with in her free time made her smile a little for herself.

While searching for paper and pen for her appointment with Itachi, the said one arrived at the room. Even if Sakura was the intruder there, he said an "excuse me" and waited for her to say something, standing in the entrance. Even when she did say a polite 'hello', he didn't reply.

"So..." she started, "could you please sit in one of the beds?" He did so without any words, leaving Sakura very uncomfortable. Itachi Uchiha, just like his young brother, wasn't much of a social butterfly. "I would like if you informed me of the basics. Age, weight, height, allergies, significant changes in your body in the past months..."

While Sakura wrote everything the man in front of her said, she couldn't help to think how he was intriguing. She knew he was Sasuke's older (and very mentally troubled) brother and that he betrayed the village leaving a trail of dead corpses —his very family— behind. It was just after Sasuke's departure that the girl, while training under Tsunade, got two and two together: her former crush's vengeance wish was drifted to the older Uchiha.

But that was all she knew. Nobody talked about it, and nobody asked about it either. What had driven Itachi's betrayal? How come the Uchiha clan, so powerful and skilled, had been slaughtered with no fights? _Why had she never heard anything of it in her entire life_?

"All right. Now I need you to tell me the abnormalities you are feeling."

"I feel fatigue all the time, and sometimes I suffer dizziness. I also faint after taxing missions that deprive me of regular eating and sleep. There also is cough and fevers. My lungs frequently hurt and, sometimes, I have nosebleeds.

"And have you ever used medicines for these symptoms?"

"I use drugs to slow down these problems, but they are stopping working. My body has already adapted to them. I tried every one we got here until they worked no more."

"I see. Well," Sakura stopped, trying to find anything in her mind that could be used as a base for the sickness. "Can you use your Sharingan regularly?"

"I am slowly going blind because of the Mangekyou, but everything I told you don't have any kind of connection with my eyes."

Finishing the questionary, the medic-nin started the regular medical procedures: she analized airways, ears, heartbeats, blood pressure, eyes, reflexes and superficial body anomalies. Itachi seemed uncomfortable when asked to remove his shirt, but he also adapted very quickly to Sakura's professionalism.

The most intriguing moment was when she asked him to turn on the Sharingan. Kakashi had done so for her dozens of times, but it was still amazing for her. Itachi's Mangekyou form, even if made her wish very badly to avert her own eyes, had a beautiful pattern.

Done with the physical exam, the youngest considered Itachi's problem. Even if Itachi said the Sharingan had nothing to do with it, she couldn't take it for granted, so she would study the possibility. She asked him to write down the names of the drugs he used regularly and the function of each one, and, just after he did so, she finished their appointment, granting him she would have results at their next meeting.

* * *

In Pain's office, Konan started to tell the leader about Sakura.

"Sakura Haruno has been easy to deal with until now. She is not rebellious and answers nicely to politeness, but she asks a lot and is always wary of her surroundings."

"From all the data we have about her, her behavior was expected. She is a smart girl and will not challenge us." He put his elbows in the desk. "Also, her clothes are inappropriate to the weather here, she must be feeling cold. Please, get her new clothing as soon as possible. You're dismissed for now."

Before Konan left, he remembered something important.

"Konan," he called. "Be careful with her. As I said, she is smart and the seal is has flaws. If she finds them, she can help Leaf in someway. I will probably assign her to missions with Deidara since he injures himself the most, but she is in your care until then. Keep your eyes open."

"And what about Itachi?"

"The contact between them will be limited to medical visits. We want Sakura in her best mental condition, and she holds a big grudge against him. He is already oriented about how to behave around her. Lastly, we will hold a meeting with all the members tonight to inform them about our situation with the Fire Country. They will be hunting us with no withdraw from now on, and any mistake from our part could be fatal. We are not ready for a large scale attack."

"All right, Nagato. Everything will be handled just fine by everyone," she assured.

"Right. Now, please, go buy the girl's clothes. If necessary, ask her sizes."

With her orders received, Konan left the room. While walking the large corridor, she encountered the man who used a whirlwind mask. He gave two small jumps while going towards the woman.

"Konan-san!" Tobi cheered.

"Yes, Tobi."

"Is it true that there is a prisoner walking around freely around the HQ? Kisame just told me!"

"Yes, Sakura Haruno, apprentice of the Fifth Hokage. I ask you to not bother her while she is here." She kept the cold look in Tobi, who started walking again. When he was side to side with her, he stopped.

" _I was not informed of the situation_. If Pain and you want to play boss while forgetting who is the real superior here, Akatsuki may fall. Take it as an advice." His voice tone suddenly changed while he whispered to the blue-haired woman. There was the real Madara.

"We will have a meeting later to let everyone know about everything."

"Oh, yes, Konan-san! I am looking forward to talking with everyone!" He clapped, the obnoxious Tobi returning as if nothing happened. "Until tonight, then!"

Just as Tobi left jumping around, Konan allowed herself to feel the chill down her spine. That man could never win Pain in battle, she knew that, but this fact only worsened the situation: the so-called Tobi played with Akatsuki just as if they were puppets tied to strings he led; if he threatened Pain, he had his good methods to make them oblige to him. She felt as if Akatsuki's power was draining from her Pain just as water cupped in hands. Tobi wanted to act in his own again.

But she wouldn't bother Nagato with her suppositions for now, so she went to buy female clothes. She would talk to him later.

* * *

Later, with warm and fresh clothing, Sakura went to the library to start research. From what she gathered with Itachi's appointment, she had a few months to try to find a cure to his disease after it fully affected the Uchiha's body. She still doubted of his eyes, so she walked around the library until she finally found an encyclopedia with a very long section about Kekkei Genkais. Sitting in one of the few desks in the room, she started to search.

As expected, there was lots of information about the Byakugan, and after some page flipping she found pages that described the Sharingan. Most of the data there was already very known to her, but she still read it like it was the first time: the Mangekyou Sharingan, which Itachi had, was awakened only if the user experienced the pain of their closest person. If the user made extended use of the doujutsu, it would also affect their body heavily. Trying to ignore for now the disturbing thought of how many people Itachi had killed that could possibly have awakened his Mangekyou, Sakura only found register of a few jutsus obtained with this new power, and of a handful historical figures that held the cursed eyes.

Frustrated at her lack of progress, she kept flipping through the pages and had to stop abruptly at a very, very small section that showed a pattern she would never forget: purple eyes with a circle pattern. It was named _Rinnegan_ , and was held merely as a legend long forgotten. Said to be the most powerful of all the Kekkei Genkai, the old stories told of the goddess Kaguya being the first holder of such power and her son, the Sage of the Six Paths, inheriting it and learning the manipulation of chakra.

Sakura's head was spinning. The book clearly said that kind of power was only a legend, but Pain's eyes said the Rinnegan was _very much_ _real_ and secretly existing after generations, held by the man the Shinobi world feared the most without even knowing he had that kind of power. Where in the world did Pain get those eyes? Was he born with them, or did he steal from someone else? If so, who?

However the worst wasn't even that: if Akatsuki had such powerful Doujutsu, said to be legendary and fully overwhelming, the ninja world was in a problem much bigger than they even expected. The Leader was still hidden inside the Rain, but he would sometime emerge from the shadows. If, in a terrible hypothesis, the Akatsuki got all of the tailed beasts Pain were able to fully unleash the bijuu's and his own powers, along with the other member's aid, what would happen to all the hidden villages?

Sakura's train of thought was interrupter by someone's entrance in the library, alarming her and making her calmly close the book with the intention of not raising any questions from anyone. When she raised her head, she met the inexpressive figure of Itachi, who read the girl's disturbance very clearly in her eyes.

"Itachi-san." She diverted her eyes for the book with the intention of putting her thoughts in order. "I researched a little of Sharingan to see if the extensive usage could have any link to your problems, and as I remembered of being with Kakashi-sensei, the Mangekyou affects your body if you use it a lot. I know you said it doesn't have anything related, but are you sure your eyes are not part of your condition?"

"Yes. I have developed my sickness during the winter of four years ago, and Akatsuki was not active at the moment, so I did not use my Sharingan at that time. You must know, but the Mangekyo makes you blind over time. And I still do not suffer from that problem just yet," he answered.

_Liar_ , thought Sakura. Itachi could have easily gone by with anyone else with his blatant lie, but he surely forgot —or underestimated— who she was or what her skills were. She saw it, so faintly, but she saw it: he could not focus his gaze perfectly, and his eyes narrowed ever so slightly that it could pass as a penetrating gaze, but he was making effort to see what was afar from him.

And of course, between his lightly narrowed eyes, he knew she had seen right through him. She never dared to get him busted, however.

"I understand. Well, for today I stopped with my research and I will resume tomorrow. When I get solid assumptions, I will call you again for another appointment." The pink-haired girl said while she lifted from the chair, hugging the encyclopedia. "And if it isn't a big problem, can we also have weekly meetings after the next one? I want to see how fast your body deteriorates and try to at least slow down the process with my medical chakra."

"Of course," Itachi agreed. With the conversation done, Sakura put the book in its bookshelf and excused herself, going to her room.

When she arrived there, she observed that besides the new clothes that she had already seen, someone had also put an extra set of sheets and towels. They also left there a broom and a duster, and Sakura thanked the good soul ( _oh, the sweet irony_ ) who left these things to her.

After dusting the room and removing the spider webs that bothered her so much, she proceeded to put her new clothes in the small wardrobe, noticing they did not match her style at all, but still had their charm. Konan surely had good taste, as Sakura knew she would be the one responsible for the task of getting her new clothing.

Sakura barely kept her emotions at lock when she got her headband to put in a safe place; in the back of the red fabric, with very feminine calligraphy, the word 'FOREHEAD' was written with black marker. Ino had pranked her with this little joke after she forgot the headband in the blonde's house, following a very nice girl's pajama party with Hinata and Tenten.

Afraid of remembering too much and letting her emotions get the better of her, Sakura quickly folded the headband and put it in one of the drawers. She had to keep her emotions at lock and focus on the present; longing too much would only drive her insane. Diverting her mind, she sat in the now clean writing desk and started to write —or rather scribble possibilities about Itachi's sickness in a clear paper sheet. But she couldn't forget the intimidating yet hypnotizing pattern of his Mangekyou, the three _tomoes_ slowly spinning and turning into blades. What did his past keep? _Who Uchiha Itachi really was_?

* * *

In the middle of the night, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path received in its hands each Akatsuki member in their projected forms. When all of the nukenin made themselves present, Pain started speaking.

"Good evening. Hidan and Kakuzu, how is your assignment going?" he asked to the duo.

"Great. We are returning and should be arriving on tomorrow's afternoon with the money. I counted it, the _Daimyo_ paid what he promised," the treasurer related.

"Very well. Moving to the main subjects, many of you don't know we have a new prisoner with benefits in our headquarters. Her name is Haruno Sakura and she is the Fifth Hokage's apprentice. We received the information that her team parted in mission two days ago and we took the opportunity to capture her," the Leader informed.

"And for which reasons she holds privileges?" Kakuzu asked.

"She is a high caliber medic ninja, already rivaling Senju Tsunade's skills. She is in the hideout to treat Itachi's health problems and will stay here until we find a cure or a treatment. If it is necessary, she will also treat everyone else when needed, but don't be reckless just because we now have a medic with us. I also advice you to treat her with politeness: no jokes, no provocations, no offenses nor touching her. This goes specially to you both, Hidan and Deidara," Pain warned. He ignored his subordinate's scoffs. "If you find necessary to restrain her for any reason, you are free to do so, but we need to preserve her mental health so she can treat Itachi adequately. Remember she has my seal in her body, so it is likely you will not need to take any measures with her."

"Leader, there also is her teammate", Zetsu remembered.

"I did not forget, Zetsu. Her teammate is Uzumaki Naruto, the nine-tails Jinchuuriki," he informed. "This is the second reason of Sakura's capture. It is clear for us that she would rather die than saying anything about Uzumaki, so do not press her on that matter for now. Itachi's treatment is our priority."

"Konoha's dogs never say a shit. Little fuckers," the cursing came from the purple-eyed shadow.

"Hidan, do not interrupt me. As I said, she will not say anything about Uzumaki Naruto nor Konoha, but we still have the possibility of using her as a bait or as a bribe to the jinchuuriki. Naruto is easily swayed by his emotions and seeing his teammate would make him easily lose control of himself," Pain continued.

"The problem is to get him away from his damn bodyguard Copy Ninja," Deidara stated. "This one is tough work. He keeps the blondie at bay."

"We will still elaborate a plan to use Haruno Sakura, but I will reinforce the need of keeping her mentally sane for now. She will have her own activities, and you can keep your lifes without changing anything too. She is here to aid us in what we need, but do not be inappropriate in any sense. I should not explain what I mean with this." This time, no one said anything to Pain. "Good. The meeting is finished now. Any questions before cutting contact?"

Not receiving any answer, the Leader dissolved the jutsu and his consciousness returned to his room. At his side, Konan also woke up. He watched her expressionless while she readjusted herself to reality. However, she never looked at him.

"Nagato, today Madara stopped me at the hallways. He asked me to say you something," she started.

"What is it?"

"He did not like you taking such a decision without his approval beforehand, and said that if we keep doing this kind of thing, Akatsuki may fall by his hands," she repeated the masked man's words.

"It was not such a drastic decision. He is trying to impose fear into us. We should not fear him however, Konan. We are stronger. In every aspect," he reassured the woman.

She hesitated in answering because she disagreed. Nagato may have never lost a battle, but his ego could cost a lot to him. Uchiha Madara wasn't one to defy, when his very name made any elite shinobi grimace in fear: _he was a legend_. Pain still would be one too, of course, he was the bearer of the legendary Rinnegan. But there still was a long way before that became true.

A 'trust me' was heard by her then. Nagato always said that when she got too worried and even if those words gave her strength to believe some more, it slowly lost its effect. The path they trailed was more dangerous each day.

But as she had done several times before, she decided to trust Nagato once more. She got closer and touched his lips with hers, hoping that what would come after with their touches made her truly believe that everything they were doing was worth it.


	3. When The Wheels Work

Sakura woke up at some moment in the morning hearing the roar of a powerful thunder, leaving her wide awake. The hideout, as always, was silent and the so-ever pouring rain was the only source of sound. She had to admit the rain was somewhat soothing, and she took advantage of the calmness to rest a little bit more in her comfortable blankets before taking a hot shower.

She ended up not thinking a lot about Itachi's condition yesterday, because every time she did so she inevitably went back to the darkest questions; how was a man so cursed, who killed hundreds with no effort and no mercy, living untroubled after so many years? She always thought of Itachi as a soulless monster and expected the worst of him, and he _did_ seem soulless, but not because he was pure evil… he seemed _empty_. Devoid of anything inside of him. Well, she guessed it would be like so if he killed his entire family. You have to throw out every human part inside of you to continue living after such a thing.

Just after finishing her business in the bathroom, Sakura dressed one of her new clothes and left the room. She intended to eat something and drown in her studies afterwards, anxious to find _anything_ about the Rinnegan. She knew she needed to work on Itachi, but she already knew she wouldn't be able to focus on anything about the Leaf missing-nin.

Finally arriving in the kitchen, Sakura almost turned back and ran. With the fridge open, there was a long-haired blond guy; one she remembered to be reported missing two arms and probably dead from blood loss. But there he was, with two arms in place and very much alive. Deidara, the bomber madman. She had to admit that looking closely, he was much younger and youthful than she imagined; he was probably somewhere around her age.

He sensed someone behind him and turned back to see, his blond hair stunningly shining against the lights of the room. Watching her from head to toe, his lips turned into a smug, crooked grin.

"The new girl, huh?" he asked rhetorically. Before Sakura could even answer, another new voice, coming from the side of the kitchen Sakura still hadn't the opportunity to look, spoke.

"Yup, the new just a little girl, it seems. Kinda lame she isn't hot," said the grey-haired man. He carried a strange scythe stained with blood and gazed at her with sardonic eyes, daring her to answer him so he could have more fun. From his eyes, he seemed to be from the dangerous kind of missing-nin, the ones crazy-driven.

Deidara never replied, and he seemed annoyed with the other man's comments. Sakura preferred to pretend she was deaf and made her way to the fridge just as the blond closed it and sat down. She was never bold to assume everyone would be easy to deal with as Konan and Kisame, but she hoped at least the others would ignore her like she wanted to ignore them.

"Hey," the rude one —the _ruder_ one— called. "What is your name again?"

"Sakura," she answered. She didn't want to know his name, never asking for it. Sitting at the table, the patterns in the wood seemed more interesting than anything at that moment.

"If you decide you can't get your job done and get crazy, _Sakura_ ," he spat the name with mockery, "you just tell me. Jashin-sama's favorite offerings are those made of little virgin sluts. Says they taste better."

Sakura's skin crawled. Well, if she was expecting monsters inside Akatsuki, she found her first one. She tried to not show intimidation, but she knew she failed. Fearing the seal and the man, she stood silent and submissive. And _oh gods how she hated it_. If she at least tried to look back at him with some disdain, imagining her fist breaking his skull with no difficulty at all…

The jade eyes raised from the table and she knew she had anger in them, but it soon faltered when she finally stared back at him. If Itachi was devoid of emotion, this one was devoid of _any good emotions_. She finally saw pure evil in someone there. His eyes were just like Orochimaru's: sadistic, waiting for the next person he could watch suffer in his hands for his own benefits. Just as her gaze faltered, Deidara spoke.

"Hidan, you stink. Go take a bath, for god's sake, I don't want to puke on my breakfast."

"Shut up, little fucker. I am just getting acquainted with the girl. But you know that if you get tired of this shit you say it's art, you can just come to me and—"

"Hidan," Kisame suddenly appeared in the kitchen's entrance. His always-there smile had something different about it this time. "Don't bother Sakura-san, did you forget what Leader said? This would make her work her harder, ya?"

Just as casually Kisame appeared, he walked to the back door and left for the training camp. Sakura mentally thanked him, because the man named Hidan cursed some more and left soon after. Being left only with Deidara, she was again awkwardly uncomfortable. She had killed his partner, wished his death when she saw what he did to Gaara and Suna, and when he tried to kill Naruto too. Remembering all those things, she couldn't avoid glaring at him, and he answered her by glaring back before getting up and leaving to his room, not saying a word more.

* * *

Konan took advantage of the moment she saw Sakura enter the library to go to the girl's room. Pain had given her orders to search for anything that she could use as a tool to flee from there and confiscate it; even if they trusted the seal, precautions were never unwelcome. As expected, the young kunoichi carried nothing of interest to them, as they had already confiscated her pack when they captured her in the first place. After searching through all the drawers, something caught Konan's attention: a neatly folded, red hitaiate. Looking behind it, she found the word 'FOREHEAD' written with a heart in the end, and it only made sense to her when she finally remembers Sakura's appearance and that she, indeed, had a big forehead. Probably a very dear friend of hers had written it on her headband.

Sakura had a close female friend —probably several more—, something Konan never had and always wished to have. She dropped the headband as if it burned, almost disgusted by it. Konan never felt envious, she was a resigned person in regards to the life she had, and the sensation of envy angered her. How could she, after everything she went through and everything she and Akatsuki achieved, still wish other people's lives?

Disgusting, indeed.

Putting back the headband where she found it, she was now absolutely sure Sakura didn't carry anything that could compromise Akatsuki. And even if she had, Konan wasn't so sure she could bear to be in that room any longer. The room of the little, dispensable girl she hated to envy.

* * *

Four days had passed since the not very amicable encounter between Sakura, Hidan and Deidara. Not long after, Sakura met an even more bizarre person (was he _even human_?) named Kakuzu and he, for her happiness, ignored her as much as she ignored him. She also met a masked man named Tobi, with a childlike personality that didn't seem legit to her. She knew he was no ordinary person to enter in Akatsuki, and she doubted that Pain would accept a person this insane in the organization. So, as any normal-minded person would do, she did not underestimate what Tobi could really be.

The days started to get more unbearable and, even if nothing directly hurt her, being confined in that hideout was slowly driving her insane. She still couldn't get to what was causing Itachi's trouble, but she found a way to occupy herself with studying the properties of every medicine Itachi took in the past. Most of them she only heard of, so it was a nice thing to learn about different drugs from around the continent. If she kept up with her research, she was positive she could create new remedies for Itachi's condition.

However, even if she was buried in books and even if studying and creating was one of the things she loved the most, even if she slept so well at night in her comfortable mattress and even if she had hot water and fresh food… she felt every part of her sanity slip between her fingers. She knew she was cattle; only treated with care before being killed for her keeper's benefits. She vowed to break free from there or die trying, and she knew the seal should have some flaws, but every day spent there made her believe less and less in going back to her village.

She was still exploring and discovering Itachi's condition, and the process would be very long. She suspected he had some sort of autoimmune condition, and if it was the case, the treatment would be very tricky. Those kinds of sickness were discovered around seven years ago and still lacked deep understanding. The medical ninjas could treat the affected antibodies, but it was a kind of work only top-notch people like Tsunade and Chiyo would be able to do without dooming the patient's life. Sakura was confident of her skills, no more that insecure and scared genin left behind by Sasuke and Naruto, but she never experimented with autoimmune diseases and, if it was indeed Itachi's case, all she could do for the next weeks was change his prescriptions and study to no end, as she was doing.

At least she knew she would not be killed right away. Pain was satisfied with her job, watching her aid Itachi exactly as she was expected to. Her only source of hope was the knowledge she would take a long time with Itachi, and it gave Konoha time to find her or further neutralize Akatsuki's forces. She knew no one would think of her as dead, as it was obvious she _had_ a purpose to them. They would try to do something when the opportunity arose, she knew it.

* * *

"Are you guys serious with this bullshit you came up, Kakashi?" Shikamaru asked. He just encountered the copy ninja in the Hokage Tower after a meeting to talk about Sakura's situation. Kakashi knew people with exceeding intelligence, like Shikamaru, could put two and two together, but he was very unfortunate to meet Asuma's apprentice so early. He expected at least one more week before being cornered like that.

"Excuse me?" the older one answered, trying to play the innocent card.

"C'mon, you are so damn obvious. You guys went looking for Sasuke, then you were intercepted by two Akatsuki —one of them being Uchiha Itachi— so you got backtracked and managed to return to the village. Then Sakura suddenly had an urgent mission. Seems too much of a coincidence, don't you think so?"

Kakashi never answered.

"They got her, didn't they?" Again Kakashi didn't answer. He knew very well that he couldn't deceive Shikamaru, so he wouldn't even try. "The Hokage can forge documents and records about this mystery mission, but I don't give one week for the truth to blow up. What will happen, then?"

"We are taking care of everything as fast as we can." Shizune appeared with Tonton in her arms, saving Kakashi from having to say something. "Please, don't tell anyone about this for now."

"Sure, sure." The youngest one resumed his way out of the tower, then suddenly stopped and looked behind. "Have you told her parents yet?"

"... Good afternoon, Shikamaru," Kakashi avoided the question, giving the most fake smile in the world, turning back and also walking away, with Shizune by his side.

But then they were stopped again just in the hallway corner. Naruto stood there, and he seemed to have been there long enough to hear what he needed to. The young boy's face was abnormally expressionless, but his fists trembling with anger told enough about his thoughts.

"Naruto, we…" Shizune tried to speak, but was quickly cut by the boy's angry voice.

"You _what_? You are fucking liars!" He screamed. "You guys left me thinking Sakura-chan was fine! Each and every one of you, what are you even fucking DOING? How longer did you pretend to leave me in the dark? Sakura-chan is with _Akatsuki_! Alone!"

Kakashi felt the menacing chakra from the Kyuubi flaring and Tsunade must have felt it too, as she came almost hurryingly from her office. Standing behind Naruto, she caught his attention with the tapping of her heels on the ground.

"Baa-chan! How were you capable of lying to me about my _best friend_?! After Sasuke, after everything! What the hell! So you just expect her to rot god-knows-whe—"

"Shut up, Naruto," Tsunade demanded. "As you said, Sakura is with Akatsuki and we can't lie to you anymore. But you know what her condition implies. We all are worried sick of what could be happening to her, and this is exactly why we can't tell the truth yet. Eventually it will blow up and I'm not naïve to say otherwise, but we need to hold it the longest we can. And in the end, what are you supposed to do with this information, Naruto? Jump from the window and start searching for Sakura without any clues? Believe me, if this was a possible choice, I would have done it already with my own hands."

"We can make it out! There must be some way, we can't possibly let her die at those monster's hands!"

" _Nobody_ wants this, Naruto, but please, for once think straight with me," Kakashi entered in the conversation. "This abduction can raise more political crisis. A few days ago Suna was invaded and bombarded with no effort, the Kazekage lost his bijuu, died and was brought back to life. The world is fearing Akatsuki, and now they are aiming for us. They want _you_ , Naruto, and they got Sakura because of that. They want to lure you and they have a big plan for it. What would happen if it became apparent to the village that their next goal is you? Konoha would live in fear to end in the same way as Suna did, or maybe even worse. What Shizune said to Shikamaru is true: we are trying to think of everything we can to bring Sakura back, but any wrong step and we may be doomed."

"And not only that. Of course Konoha and Suna are joining forces to defeat the Akatsuki, but what about the other hidden villages? Iwa, Kumo and Kiri hold loyalty only to themselves and you know it. If they found it beneficial to ally with Akatsuki for their own interests, they would not hesitate to do so and attack us too. Actually, Jiraiya discovered last month that the Mist _indeed_ worked with Akatsuki under the Fourth Mizukage's control. Terumi Mei is changing things, and even if she is the most reliable one out of the kages from these three villages, she still isn't trustworthy."

Naruto, hearing their words, seemed to come to his senses and calmed down. With a defeated tone, he asked, "and how far did you get until now?".

"We got nowhere yet, Naruto. No one saw Itachi and Kisame, neither did people have seen Sakura. Believe us, we asked and searched in a perimeter of two hundred kilometers. There are no footprints, no chakra or scent trails. When Itachi knocked you out, Yamato tried to pursue them, but after a few minutes he lost his trail," Tsunade said.

"So if we are getting nowhere, it would be a lot easier if we spoke to Gaara right now! He will surely help us!"

"You're forgetting they have their great deal of problems to deal with right now. And as I said before, the other villages could ally with Akatsuki. If we joined forces with Suna to directly attack one of Akatsuki's bases if we manage to discover one of them, there could be a big backlash to us," Tsunade scolded the blond boy. "We cannot risk war. We of course would ally with Suna if completely necessary, but the village is already scared enough and doesn't need any more panic. If the Council started to think of me as unfit to deal with the problem, they even would put the wrong person in charge of dealing with this. A person just as untrustworthy than the Kages I mentioned earlier."

"Who is that, Baa-chan?," Naruto asked, clearly confused by the allegation.

"Walls have ears, Naruto," Tsunade implied. "Now, if you and Kakashi can excuse yourselves, I need to prepare for another meeting. Shizune, you stay with me."

Defeated, Naruto obeyed his Hokage's command and avoided any contact with Kakashi. The Copy Ninja also quickly disappeared after an awkward farewell, so the jinchuriki numbly walked back to his apartment. Finally in his bed, he cried for the girl he loved.

* * *

Sakura clicked her tongue triumphantly after finishing her written prototype of a formula that would replace Itachi's drugs for his lungs. She almost went crazy in the process, as working with foreign ingredients was insanely hard, but in the end she could say it was somewhere in her 'Top Ten List Of Incredible Feats', because she learned so much, and oh how she _loved_ to learn and create! And even if it was for the most wanted criminal in her village, it was her beloved creation. Imagine what she could do in Konoha with all the new things she learned!

In a confidence outbreak, she left her room full of books and papers piled on the ground and her little desk, aiming for Pain's office to tell him the news and ask for the ingredients she needed. She knew well she was forbidden from walking around like that, but Sakura supposed she would be forgiven when she explained her disobedience.

Luckily she encountered the blond guy still within her 'walking-safe zone' that maybe could get her to Pain's office. Yes she was getting crazy and yes she was maybe a little too happy with herself, so she did the last thing any well-minded person would do: she spoke to him.

"Excuse me. Pain's office is this way I'm going, right…?" She pointed to the direction she was walking to.

"Yeah," the rude answer Deidara gave to the young girl made her open her mouth to speak, but she soon closed it. He shrugged and started walking again, but she called him again. What was that, the 'Test Deidara's Patience Day'?

"Well… I'm not allowed to go alone," she implied, her voice almost squirming. "Could you take me there? I don't want anyone watching me breaking the rules and, you know, putting a kunai into my throat."

Deidara almost laughed at her embarrassment of asking him, having to throw away her pride. So maybe he could play with her for a little bit. "And what will I gain with that?"

Sakura had to repress her irritation, but her face gave her out. She took a deep breath and tried to control the unevenness in her voice.

"Please," she asked.

"Okay, but only because your helpless face almost makes me cringe in shame for you, hm."

Sakura again avoided saying anything, and resumed walking when he did. The silence was very uncomfortable, but the absence of any relevant sound to concentrate on gave space for Sakura's sense of smell to rise. Deidara smelled of fresh soil…? No, fresh _clay_ , it was definitely clay. And a trace of smoke that stung on his clothes. When he turned his head to watch the window at their side, his hair gloriously shined and it smelled as good as it looked. The medic-nin almost smiled at the thought of a S-rank criminal spending so much effort to make his hair beautiful, but refrained herself when he turned to her.

"Here," he said as they stopped in front of Pain's office door, carved with the _Zero_ kanji. "You owe me one now, girl."

Sakura frowned, and Deidara couldn't resist asking. "What?" he said.

"My name is Sakura. You know that. And I think I don't owe you nothing, since you get a free —and forced— medic to fix you when you blow yourself up like when we met in the Wind Country."

The pink-haired girl expected an angry answer or for the seal to do its work, but none of them happened. Okay, so answering back like that didn't trigger anything in her body. As for Deidara… she was actually surprised to see a crooked smile in his lips, pleased with her answer.

"Guess you're more funny than you look to be, hm. See you anytime, _Sakura_ ," he played with the name in his tongue while he turned and left, leaving her alone and kind of stunned. Okay, so the guy was into this kind of mental games.

The moment almost made her forget why she was in front of Pain's door in the first place, so she hurried herself to knock before someone found her there standing. When the deep voice inside the office welcomed her, Sakura opened the door and he gazed at her while she put herself in front of him.

"Where is Konan," he demanded to know, clearly meaning it as ' _why are you here alone_ '.

"I don't know, I'm sorry. Deidara brought me here," she told him. "I wanted to tell you that the prototype of one of Itachi's new drugs is ready. The most important of them all. But I need the plants to make it."

The iryou-nin handed him a sheet of paper and the man accepted it in silence. "Seven of the nine ingredients are from the Earth Country, and the other two from the Tea Country. And I have to say that this is a prototype, so it has a chance of failing."

"And how high is this chance?", Pain asked.

"Very low. I haven't failed in a long time," she assured, her pride from minutes ago resurfacing.

Pain nodded. The Tea Country was very close to the Fire Country and it would be risky to get near, so Zetsu would have to do this job. The Earth Country was the destination of the next mission, though, so he could kill two rabbits with one stone.

"Very well. I will quickly provide you with what you need. Is there any other progress besides this prototype?"

"Yes. There are other formulas I'm working on, and I'm getting there, but I want to research more. We want a cure, not a decelerator of the symptoms," Sakura related. She refrained from the passing thought that _she_ was very much interested in never finding a cure for Itachi, though.

"I see. Anything else?" Upon hearing a 'no', Pain dismissed Sakura. He would make the final arrangements to capture the Four-Tails in the next hour and would send Deidara and Tobi as soon as possible with the list.

* * *

Harsh knocks on Sakura's door woke her up in the middle of the night. The girl quickly put on her bathrobe, covering her warm PJs, and hurried to the door. When she opened it, expecting to be Konan or Itachi, she was very unpleased to find Hidan impatiently looking at her. She shivered.

"... Yes?" she asked, now wide awake.

"I just finished one of my rituals for Jashin-sama and I think I broke my bone ugly with my scythe. Look at it for me," he demanded.

"Uhhh of course. Just a minute. You can go to the infirmary while I finish waking up?"

"For fucks sake, hurry up. Ain't got all night for your girl shit," Hidan complained, but started walking before even finishing his sentence.

After closing the door, Sakura finally allowed herself to breathe. _He flogged himself with his own weapon?_! Okay, so things were getting crazier and more dangerous. She surely didn't feel safe with him before, and now it only got worse, considering he was a sadistic, assassin, insane and now _masochist_ individual.

She washed her face and put on the same clothes she used the day before, hurrying to the infirmary as she didn't want to test Hidan's patience. He was there, sitting in one of the beds.

"Can you please show me where you hurt yourself?" She asked.

The nukenin removed his cape, revealing he was shirtless. And _what the hell was that?!_ In his right shoulder there was a big, gruesome and bloody hole. She could see his exposed flesh and she almost didn't believe it was a self-inflicted wound. How did he bear that kind of pain, and even more, how did he manage to act so casually about that?

Without saying anything, she approached him and used her chakra-infused palm to analyse the area, confirming that, indeed, there was a very broken bone there. The man's expression remained impassive, almost annoyed. She avoided looking at him when she finally spoke.

"Yeah, somehow you managed to break your clavicle. I can fix it now and try to repair your tissues, but you will have to use a sling for a few days so you don't rip everything open again."

"Whatever, just fix this shit," he cursed and Sakura, wordless, just started to work. "Y'know, girlie…"

"I have a name. It's Sakura," she interrupted him, just as she did with Deidara earlier.

"Whatever. You were in that Naruto's team, am I right?" He asked.

"Yes, I _am_ in _that Naruto's_ team. Why do you ask?"

"I'm curious how it was dealing with the boy and the beast inside him? Considering which one it was out of the nine, he must get angry very easy when things get ugly. Tell me, did he fuck up a lot because of that?"

Sakura didn't understand what Hidan just said, and the bewildered look she gave him made him frown.

"What, I'm just curious 'cause we only get to beat the fucker's up and do our job." Suddenly, Hidan got some sort of insight and smiled with evilness. "Oh. You didn't know."

Suddenly stopping working on Hidan's shoulder, Sakura stood in shock. Quickly thinking, she unfolded all the events in the past. She understood the rejection Naruto suffered when they were kids, a thing she also did going with the flow before really knowing him. She understood why Shizune was so afraid of sending Naruto on long missions. Why Jiraiya's training took so long and worried Tsunade and Kakashi. She understood how Team Seven got away alive in so many situations, like when fighting Zabuza and Haku or Gaara. She understood why Kakashi always chose to 'keep an eye' on Naruto whenever they had to fight someone.

Naruto was a Jinchuuriki. And Akatsuki was after Jinchuurikis.


End file.
